[RD] You have the opportunity to design your Dream Game!

[cardgame]

err, that already happens in the base game when you level up one handed/two handed etc.

sure it's not weapon-specific, which is a bummer compared to morrowind, but adding another implementation seems redundant.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

For true melee characters, those using swords, axes, and daggers to hit enemies, I suggest having a perk that comes from using the same weapon(s) for a long time. The more you use it the better you get with it. Add speed, damage, crit hits, blocking etc. You could have the weapon bonus scale by, time, number of battles, length of battles, monsters killed, etc or a combination of those. Maybe add a place where a character could "practice" with a weapon to gain skill based bonuses. This might alleviate the need to upgrade weapons or craft them to higher levels.

that's a fantastic idea and I'm wondering how I would implement it from a coding point of view

first idea:
for each weapon type there is a corresponding perk tree and a corresponding skill
the skill increases as you use weapons of that type

Spoiler :

berserkers use axes (more efficient than other classes)
assasins use daggers
enforcers use swords
bandits use maces

paladins use greatswords
barbarians use battleaxes
brahmins use warhammers

then I would implement a perk that scales weapon damage based off of the class skill

i.e. for the assassin:

you do 1% more damage with daggers for every assassin skill point

as you use your daggers your assassin skill increases, and your damage with daggers increases with it

second idea:
make "weapon mastery" independent of class and skills

Spoiler :

I would give the player 7 permanent buffs, one for each weapon type. whenever the "increase weapon mastery" event happens, the player gets a permanent bonus, such as +1% damage with (weapon type).

the difficulty is finding a good trigger/condition for that event

i.e.

whenever you slay an opponent with a greatsword, start event
the event gives you a permanent (invisible) buff that boosts all your damage with greatswords by 1%

this would become broken really quick, but it's just an example. the two important factors are the condition and the trigger. I can't really think of a good trigger of the top of my head.

3rd idea, is how it is handled in the game currently
whenever you use light weaponry (swords, daggers, small axe, small mace) you get more proficient at doing so (you gain increased damage)
same for heavy weaponry (battleaxe, warhammer, greatsword)

every class, as stated above, has some preference towards weapon types. usually youll have two to pick from.

this is somewhat lame, because practicing with a dagger makes you better at using swords, but you still get to specialize into a weapon type via both class selection and perks.

which of the three options would you prefer, which seems most immersive, which makes most sense from a gameplay pov? for me the second option with weapon mastery makes most sense, and it's easier to implement than the first option. it's a pretty elegant solution, too.

even cooler: introduce a penalty to the player from the start of the game (all weapon damage -50%). in order to circumvent the penalty you have to train with a weapon type, say get at least 100 killing blows with a warhammer. with every killing blow your damage with warhammers is raised, so that in the end you'll have +50% damage with warhammers, but -50% damage with all other weapon types.

in all of my changes I try to stay ingame 100%. I will not be introducing any extra menus, MCM, sliders, nothing of the sort, which makes my approach a little more difficult.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

if anyone wondererd how vanilla Skyrim, or even most mods like Ordinator or SkyRe handed melees, it was like this:

You have two perk trees, one for 2handed and one for 1handed. If you want to play 2handed, you pick the 2handed tree. If you want to use big warhammers, you pick the two or three perks that are related to warhammers. That's it, customization ends here. All the other perks pertaining to Greatswords, Battleaxes and so forth are entirely redundant to you. That's almost half the perks those trees have to offer. It's simply bad design imho.

err, that already happens in the base game when you level up one handed/two handed etc.

sure it's not weapon-specific, which is a bummer compared to morrowind, but adding another implementation seems redundant.

that was pretty much my thought aswell, especially since I will introduce more customization for weapon types. many class identities are tied to certain weapon types, completely contrary to the base game.

 

[Birdjaguar]

The idea came to me through playing PoE. Their use of skill gems simplifies the process. You would just link the specified weapon to a skill gem and as the combination levels, extra bonuses are applied. As I envision things, the bonus goes to a specific weapon and not a class of weapons, but that is just my bias.

What if killing a monster while using weapon A generated x experience points that accumulated and as those points reached thresholds, a bonus is applied to the damage done. If the extra damage is capped at 25% then you scale the levels such that it takes some appropriate number of kills to reach the top. You could even have each kill feed multiple scales that increase total damage, but at different rates. Attack speed moves along this track, blocking along this one and accuracy on another etc. Then those are formulated to increase damage. This avoids specific events and just lets players kill stuff. The points would accumulate faster if you kill more difficult critters. I don't think the weapon type should matter much. The bonus would be tied to using the same weapon for a long period of time. The player choice becomes, should I go with that new sword and lose my proficiency or keep using my old one because the bonus is really good and will get better. How long the highest proficiency takes becomes a game play factor.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

Ah, I get where you're coming from now. It would really help with building a personal relationship towards your weapon, instead of discarding it instantly for another one with slightly better stats. This is something more correlated to items than general game mechanics, and as such will create conflict with every single other mod that alters items/leveled lists. When the time comes I'll keep your idea in mind and try the best to introduce it. Currently my planning is like this:

First release the core mechanics / class identity

I was thinking of this: Rare weapons have an enchant that grows in strength as the player uses the weapon. Whenever you get a fresh rare weapon, it's enchantment probably worse than the one you are using currently, but its stats might be better. That would be a pretty elegant solution and require very little work on my part.

Doing this for every weapon seems pretty much impossible, as it would mean I'd have to edit every single weapon in the game manually. It also makes little sense. With rare or magic weapons it feels like they have a soul that you can connect to, to increase your bond. Fits neatly lore-wise since there even is a sword with its own soul and personality called Umbra.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

Hey guys, quick update. All masteries are finished, most of the paths are finished, a decent chunk of perks and many spells are still missing, but then I'm done. Meanwhile.. I decided to release parts of the mod as single downloads, little tidbits. And people are liking them.

I made this video, first one I ever made with freeware The mod in question disables the difficulty (cheat) sliders in the Skyrim option and gives you a set difficulty for your game, similiar to Legendary, but more fast paced. Check it out!